2013 NCAA Gymnastics - 'Cause it's Always a Good Time!

Just saw Kyrta Hunter waiting at a red light on a motorized scooter as I was turning at an intersection! Her foot was in a boot/soft cast. I shouted "Go Gators!" as I passed by but I don't think she heard me.

LSU posted a 196.800 something. It was a great meet except for beam. They scored a 48.600 or somewhere around there on beam, so if they could have just gone 49 on beam they would have been looking at or near a season high.

Sarie Morrison scored a perfect 10 on vault. It was absolutely gorgeous. This marks two weeks in a row with a 10.000 for LSU. I thought Hall might get another 10 on floor but they gave her a 9.950

There was some questionable judging. I felt Arkansas was getting hammered on beam for no good reason. The first two gymnasts nail their beam sets and couldn't get above a 9.750 Those sets were easily 9.8+ sets. I know they were early in the lineup but they had the difficulty and form, why can't they get the score? The same thing happened to Dickson on vault for LSU. She nailed her vault and only got a 9.825 while a vault with a big hop right after her went 9.800 and they were comparable in all other departments.

The other low score was Mathis on floor. She rocked that set and went 9.850 (right after Savona scored a 9.900). The only thing I can figure is her double layout was landed with a low chest even though she had no issues with the landing and still took her lunge back and not forward. She often pikes it down as well so I guess tonight they really hit her for it. She nailed her double pike dismount with feet together. I think I saw a petition filed or something. I know you can't petition a score (only a start value, I think) but maybe they filed one of those things where they get to see what deductions were taken. I would want to know, especially from the judge who gave it a 9.800

LSU looked great, though. I don't know what happened on beam. Everyone was a shaky mess. Savona actually stepped off the end of the beam. Huge mental break, I guess. The team may have been too focused on the big start and mentally began thinking about the final score instead of focusing on getting through beam first.

FYI: The women's meet of Ohio State-Michigan State is airing on B10 Network this afternoon at 5 PM EST. Go Bucks!!

BTW-I've been watching the men's Ohio State-Michigan meet this afternoon and it's been a little messy in spots but it's also had some really great gymnastics too. Both of these teams are insanely talented and it's been really fun watching them (aside from the fact that Michigan's winning at the halfway point, LOL ).

Nice distance on the Yurchenko 1/1, I'd have gone 9.95 for the slight pike but then again I reserve all of my 10's on vault for Zamarippa. Very nice, would love to see a Florida, Oklahoma, Michigan, LSU, UCLA, Stanford Super 6 this year. I think the teams that haven't won an NCAA title yet have been the most impressive this year, still have my money on Florida. (and wow Bridget! won yet another AA)

I'm especially impressed with Kytra Hunter and Bridget so far this year. Mackenzie Caquatto has scored 10 on bars, then they have Ashanee Dickerson and soo many others in every lineup.

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This sums up my at UF this year. That is, Marissa King has been buried. I know that athletes like Hall and team mates Dickerson and Hunter meet NCAA requirements and execute their elements nicely but reality is they are inferior gymnasts (by far) to the likes of King (more dynamic, far better style) and Caquatto. It bugs me no end that better athletes have to water their skills in order to create a level playing field. Only to be outscored on that field by inferior gymnasts.

Marissa King's Vault and Floor are the best in NCAA for me. I also really like her bars and beam, but she's unlikely to do AA and even if she does, she won't score as well as Dickerson/Hunter who have easier routines because they don't have the skill set.

Oh lord, not with the Hall bashing again? People have such a huge problem with someone like Hall getting a 10 on floor. This is the NCAA and it embraces ALL TYPES of athletes. Gymnastic snobs (and you are a snob, Poths) think gymnastics should only reward one look, style or body type. Everyone else is inferior and not even worthy of competing on the same floor. NCAA embraces the other gymnasts and that is why someone like Hall can get a 10 on floor. Hall could NEVER get a 10 on the other events but her power and tumbling are rewarded in the NCAA. There is nothing wrong with her tumbling skills and her leaps all have good lines and pointed toes and hit the splits. You may not think that is possible but go back and watch a video, she hits her positions. It almost always comes down to style and the "if this is where choreography is heading then I want no part of it" argument. You are more than welcome to hate her routine but it is NOT a deduction when Poths doesn't like someone's music/dance/etc. She hits her elements, nails her tumbling, no deductions? Well then, yes, it is a 10 whether you like it or not.

Oh lord, not with the Hall bashing again? People have such a huge problem with someone like Hall getting a 10 on floor. This is the NCAA and it embraces ALL TYPES of athletes. Gymnastic snobs (and you are a snob, Poths) think gymnastics should only reward one look, style or body type. Everyone else is inferior and not even worthy of competing on the same floor. NCAA embraces the other gymnasts and that is why someone like Hall can get a 10 on floor. Hall could NEVER get a 10 on the other events but her power and tumbling are rewarded in the NCAA. There is nothing wrong with her tumbling skills and her leaps all have good lines and pointed toes and hit the splits. You may not think that is possible but go back and watch a video, she hits her positions. It almost always comes down to style and the "if this is where choreography is heading then I want no part of it" argument. You are more than welcome to hate her routine but it is NOT a deduction when Poths doesn't like someone's music/dance/etc. She hits her elements, nails her tumbling, no deductions? Well then, yes, it is a 10 whether you like it or not.

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This. While I do find NCAA marking overlooks form problems, and find Dickerson / Hunter both get overmarked in comparison to King, one really can't argue with Hall's marks. The tumbling is absolutely huge, and she does hit all her elements including the leaps. I just don't see where you're coming from with this Poths. Lloimincia has an unconventional body type when it comes to gymnastics - and as long as she hits the elements, that should never be held against her.

This. While I do find NCAA marking overlooks form problems, and find Dickerson / Hunter both get overmarked in comparison to King, one really can't argue with Hall's marks. The tumbling is absolutely huge, and she does hit all her elements including the leaps. I just don't see where you're coming from with this Poths. Lloimincia has an unconventional body type when it comes to gymnastics - and as long as she hits the elements, that should never be held against her.

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I'm TRYING to be less of a snob, I promise

Hall is pretty fun, and I get that she's entertaining and absolutely get that she has big clean tumbles and very good splits. SO, eh...what was my point? Oh, yeh, King and even Sloan.....

The fact that a clean Hall is a 10, means that at best, a clean King and Sloan are tied with her. :/ There has to be something that can be done about that!
Just in terms of the double layout with bent knees and flat feet...10? really?

Hall is essentially Candeloro and Bonaly, both worth their medals and brought admirable qualities, but if they were to tie with a clean Kulik and Kwan, I'd have issues.

Perhaps it's just the price former elite athletes have to pay for not selling out and getting an education , but I don't think real class should not be undervalued/repressed just because the majority of the competition doesn't have it!

I get your point about there not being enough separation but there are deductions on even gymnasts like King that judges often ignore. The code needs to separate more but class or lack of is simply not a deduction. It would need to be defined and that's far too subjective, even for a sport like gymnastics.

I don't think Hall is an elegant gymnat, but she's very likable and fun to watch with amazing tumbling (just not amazing form, although her leaps are good, she kind of reminds me of Dos Santos in that regard). I thought the 10 was a stretch, but with the way NCAA is scored, it doesn't surprise me. There's something about the wall Hall holds her shoulders that irks me.

I'm with Karpenko on those teams for Super 6. However, Alabama will be in the mix and I'm assuming it will be to the detriment of LSU or Stanford. Stanford hasn't scored as well as I thought they would with Hong and Vaculik. I think Utah might also sneak in the Super 6. In honesty, there are a lot of teams that could end up in that Super 6 depending on the day. I would say Georgia and Nebraska could also end up there depending on how the sessions are stacked.

I don't know why, but I've never been an Ashanee Dickerson fan. I admire her, but I can say I enjoy her gymnastics. I do find Marissa King a little buried in the lineup this year and I'm not loving her floor exercise as much as I have in the past. Even though I like Randy Stageberg (she had an amazing floor in 2006 with a double pike side pass), I find it weird that she's still consistently in the beam and floor lineup.

I enjoy most of the UCLA floor routines this year. I just read, though, that Oregon Stat upset them last night. It seems Melanie Jones and McKayla Stambaugh had good nights last night. I loved Jones's floor last year and thought she got hosed in event finals at NCAAs.

My actual favorite floor routine this year in Rheagan Courville. I love the music and her choreography is really good.

I agree, Courville is sublime. I hope she can find a better rhythm on beam because she really could challenge in the AA and win the beam title. She changed her final series on beam from a front tuck into a back pike gainer to a front aerial sissone leap back like gainer. Gives the dismount a little more credibility in the difficulty department and is a more consistent series of elements for her.

I am in LOVE with this bar routine from Minnesota's Janell Campbell. This year's Minnesota squad is just all kinds of awesome. I hope they can keep their positive momentum going!

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I think she has a lot of potential but that bar routine needs a real release skill to challenge. She only has the high to low transition, which is in almost every single bar routine (if not, the other gymnasts do a transition that is more difficult like a pak). She doesn't even have a release to go from low to high. I would think that routine would really struggle in the post season to go above 9.850 even if she hit it perfectly. It just doesn't hold up.

I mainly love her form. And the fact that she ends with something other than a DLO!

It's certainly not the most difficult routine Minnesota has (I didn't say it was), but it's one of the prettiest.

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I will give you that, it certainly is pretty. It makes me wonder why she doesn't have more difficulty. To make your gymnastics looks that clean and easy means you have great technique (especially on an event like bars) and great technique should mean she can learn more skills. Maybe she had an injury or something? I would love to see her with a full set because she really could make UB finals with just a little more in there.

Here is video of Karin Lichey's perfect 40 in the AA. UGA posted the video to celebrate the anniversary. What an amazing accomplishment. I love that the video not only caught the routines but also the scores, crowd reactions and of course her and Suzanne's reactions. You can debate the scores but from what I recall, those were all worthy 10's at the time. I can even forgive the slight short of handstand positions because she goes into them from an uprise instead of a much easier kip cast.

Here is video of Karin Lichey's perfect 40 in the AA. UGA posted the video to celebrate the anniversary. What an amazing accomplishment. I love that the video not only caught the routines but also the scores, crowd reactions and of course her and Suzanne's reactions. You can debate the scores but from what I recall, those were all worthy 10's at the time. I can even forgive the slight short of handstand positions because she goes into them from an uprise instead of a much easier kip cast.

First, the good news -- that was wonderful! That had some awesome difficulty. I haven't followed college gymnastics for that long so I had never seen her before. Excellent!

Now the bad news -- unfortunately, 17 years later, women are doing routines with 10.0 start values that aren't nearly as difficult as what Lichey did in 1996. For example, Lichey did a true flight skill to move from low bar back to high bar, yet today, women can score a 10.0 if they simply stand on the low bar and reach for the high. Similarly, she did a double tuck dismount on beam, and a full-twisting double pike to open floor. Again, today's start values are too high: women can score 10.0s on beam with much easier dismounts, and on floor without doing any double flips. And, I think that the start value for the full twisting Yurchenko should have dropped below a 10.0 about 10 years ago.

I'm not saying that what today's women are doing is easy -- it certainly is not -- but too many routines that are not 10.0-worthy nonetheless have a start value of 10.0. Perhaps if those in charge of the judging system are reminded of what Lichey did to earn her 10.0s 17 years ago, they will finally update the scores to better reflect what truly is 10.0-worthy in 2013.

I'm at the Florida meet right now... I have to rant a bit. Firstly, they've fallen to shambles on beam. Sloan fell. M. Caquatto fell. Hunter nearly fell twice, once on her mount and again on her series, also had a tenth step on her dismount. Both wobbles were large and should have been 2 tenths apiece. They both broke the rhythm of the routine. One judge scored it as a 9.6 and the other a 9.7. I am sitting here shaking my head. If a girl from Kentucky had done the exact same routine she would have scored a 9.3 or so probably. Lots and lots of home cooking going on for UF tonight. Sloan also got a 9.975 on bars even with a tiny step on the dismount. I got the routine on video, I'll try to upload it later.

LSU lost at Auburn but still scored a nice 196.975. Not a bad road score. They managed that with a 48.900 on beam. If they get beam under control they will be in the hunt every meet, including post season.

Michigan State just scored a 196.000! Freshman Lisa Burt with a 9.9 on bars and a 9.925 on beam! 49+ on three events! I think this team FINALLY has it together! I hope it's not too late to make a run at regionals....

Not sure if I posted this before. Anyone who likes to keep track of LSU can catch their weekly show. I absolutely love it because you practically see every routine. Most of them are not in full but you get to see all the big skills and get an idea of why some gymnasts scored the way they did. Here is this weeks meet, you can find the other ones easily from there:

Anyone attending any meets tonight? I will be at the LSU vs. UGA meet. I am expecting a great meet. This should be really intense as Jay Clark was the head coach of UGA last season and is now the Associate Head Coach of LSU. I never did quite figure out that title, I suppose it means he is the head coach in training, D.D. Breaux can't be coaching for much longer. LSU has already beaten UGA once this year on neutral ground so let's see what kind of attitude UGA brings into the arena. I am also looking for LSU to put together a decent beam rotation. I don't care if it scores 49 or 49.5, I just want to see hit sets, the judges scoring can tight or not, who cares. LSU has given away far too many tenths on beam the last few weeks.